Haikyuu Creature Collection

Helping Paws (Koji Hiroo)

Wizzy: So I was going to use someone else and make Hiroo be something more snake-like, but he was literally the only character who would have worked for this idea. Since it doesn't really come up, this is set in the timeskip era. Adorable Kitsune Hiroo by  DestinyExpansion (AKA AnUnknownPlaymaker)

I've always heard that foxes are nothing but troublemakers. They tear up gardens, kill your animals... ruin anything and everything that they can possibly get into. Not once have I ever experienced such as thing myself though.

While my neighbors were constantly complaining about the local foxes being a nuisance, I had yet to encounter even a single problem.

You could claim that it might just be because I didn't have any that came around, but I do. One in particular came around almost daily.

At first, he was quite shy, only coming around when I wasn't looking. He'd take a few vegetables from my garden, but he'd never leave a mess. No holes were ever left in my yard, except that one time when I'd had a tree that I wanted to plant. I left it only a moment to grab a show and by the time I'd returned, a hole had been left right where I'd planned to dig one.

Sometimes, he'd leave things on my back porch. If he found something interesting, he'd leave it there for me. Sometimes they would be marbles. Once there was an old flashlight. Once there was a wallet, which of course I returned to its rightful owner, who was grateful to have it back after having lost it years ago.

One morning, I came out to find him sitting on my front doorstep, a small rabbit held in his teeth. At first, I thought he meant to bring me a dead animal as his idea of a gift, but the little creature was perfectly unharmed, except for a broken leg. Once it was safely in my hands, the fox did something rather strange: he smiled at me and then ran off.

I ended up taking care of the rabbit until his leg was better and released him back into the wild.

A few weeks later, he brought me a bird with a broken wing. Three days after that, he brought me a snake who'd gotten his head stuck in a bottle.

The first could have been written off as a coincidence, but the other two made it clear that it was on purpose. It was like he knew that I would help them... like he wanted me to help them. Things like that were why I became a veterinarian, after all.

After the snake, he started coming around for no reason at all. He'd come and sit next to me on my back porch. I'd talk to him and pet him absentmindedly. In no time at all, I got rather used to having him around. Sometimes he'd help me around the garden, digging up this or that... or even carrying around whatever was small enough for him.

Now and then, the little rabbit would appear. I call her Usagi. The fox never bothers her, but now and then he'll chase her down and bring her to me, but never leave so much as a scratch on her.

Sometimes the snake would pay a visit too. I've taken to calling him Suguru. I'm really not sure why... it just felt right.

As for the fox... no name that I could think of felt right for him. It made me feel bad. Everyone else gets a name, but not him? How unfair...

As I racked my brain for a name for my fox friend, I spotted him across the yard. In his mouth was a ball of furry white. Seeing me, he hurried over. The white fluffball was dropped gently into my lap.

I lifted it up to get a better look and my heart nearly stopped. The little creature he'd brought me was a baby fox... he couldn't be more than a couple weeks old...

"He's a kitsune."

I stopped at the sound of a voice. One look around said that no one was here but the two foxes, but that could only mean...

"Don't freak out, okay?" When I looked at the fox beside me, I very much wanted to freak out. Foxes don't talk... though I guess a kitsune would, wouldn't it? That would also explain a lot... "I wasn't even going tell you... not yet anyway... but it can't really wait now..."

The fox gave the little kit a gentle nudge. "His mother's gone... She... she was a friend of mine... I didn't know what else to do. I can't take care of him, so you're his only hope..."

The whole situation is crazy. Any normal person would refuse, right? But when he says it in that way, how can I refuse? The little one would be helpless on his own... but then again, I'm not prepared to mother a child, let alone a fox child. And yet, even though I thought that, I couldn't just leave him alone.

"I don't know anything about kitsune..." I told him.

He placed a paw on my hand. "You do know foxes though. I can help you with what you don't know... but I can't actually give him the care that he'll need..."

He was always bringing me creatures that needed my help... and now he brought me a child... Maybe it wasn't a human child, but it was still more than an animal.

The fox looked up at me, eyes pleading with me to take the little one in. "I don't have anyone else I can trust with him... I promise that I'll help you in every way that I can..."

I can't refuse. I gave his head a pat. "It's okay... I'll take care of him... Does he have a name?"

The fox shook his head. I must look crazy talking to a fox... "No... I'm Koji Hiroo though... I guess if you have to give him a last name, you can give him mine... unless you want him to have yours..."

I picked up the baby fox and held him to my chest. "I'll make sure to give him a good name... and a good home."